Geddes, NY -- Camillus resident Mark Tracy had to wait three hours Thursday night before he got a chance to ask the money question: Are state and federal environmental officials willing to look at new “green” technology as an alternative to burying contaminated sediment from Onondaga Lake in Camillus.

Tracy was talking about using a combination of chemical oxidation and nonotechnology to reduce the toxicity of the sediment that will be buried in AlliedSignal’s old Wastebed 13 off Airport Road.

Tracy and more than 100 residents attended a meeting organized by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Conservation to answer questions raised by the EPA’s recent determination that the sediment plan posed no health risk to the public.

“What I would like to do is get 10 gallons of sediment, send it out to two or three of these organizations, get a baseline study of these techniques and publish the results,” he said. “That’s all we’re asking for. That’s going to cost maybe around $100,000 to $200,000. I know those resources exist at EPA.”

“That’s all I’m asking for is produce a little data to see how effect are these technologies on a little slurry in a 10-gallon bucket. Is that possible to do? That test could be done now and be completed in probably a month or less.”

Tracy’s suggestion could reduce the toxicity level of the nearly 2.2 million cubic yards of sediment that are to be removed from the lake as part of the $451 million lake cleanup being carried out and paid for by Honeywell International, the company that emerged from the merger of Honeywell and AlliedSignal.

The cleanup plan calls for the sediment to be pumped by pipeline to the wastebed and packed in porous plastic tubes. The water will drain off and be treated at the site and at the metro sewer plant. The remaining sediment will be buried in the wastebed.

That has residents of the half-dozen housing developments encircling Wastebed 13, worried about the long-term health risks of burying the contaminated sediment in a residential area.

Tonight’s gathering was organized by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Conservation to answer questions raised by the EPA’s recent determination that the sediment plan posed no health risk to the public.

For 4.5 hours, state and federal officials talked by how the assessment was performed. The bottom line was the assessment found little chance the public would be endangered by the plan. The sediment is not very toxic in the first place, the EPA project manager Robert Nunes said, and the material would be enclosed in a pipeline and packed into the tubes, offering little chance of exposure to the public.

Any risk is too much risk for nearby residents. Among them, Sharon St. Louis, who lives less than a mile from Wastebed 13. She wants state and federal officials to at least look seriously at using innovative technology to minimize the risk to the public.

“If there’s a better way, why wouldn’t they choose a better way,” she asked as the meeting ended.